Miguel Cabrera won't be going on the disabled list. He thinks he could be in the lineup as soon as Saturday.

“I feel much better today,” Cabrera said. “I don’t want to miss three weeks with this because it’s very dangerous. If I miss three or four games, to me, it’s going to be good, because the first time I feel it, I feel like kind of scary.

“I was almost crying. I was like not again, please. This year, to me, has been very hard.”

And Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said he would be “shocked” if Cabrera wasn’t in the starting lineup on Saturday against the Rangers.

Cabrera hit in the batting cages before the game and was available as a pinch-hitter.

“There just wasn’t a spot,” Ausmus said. “I didn’t want to use him just to use him. If I was going to use him, I was going to use him in a spot where he could tie or win the game. Ideally, I’d like him to have another full day and night to rest. But I’d be shocked if he wasn’t playing tomorrow.”

Cabrera sustained a Grade 1 left oblique strain during the second round of batting practice before Wednesday’s game against the Orioles. He was a late scratch.

About not pinch-hitting Cabrera in the Tigers’ 5-3 loss to the Rangers, Ausmus said, “I was erring on the side of caution because he’d be coming back real quick from an oblique injury and I didn’t want him to re-injure it, being amped up, getting into a game in a pinch-hit situation with a chance to tie it or win it.”